Trick or Treat

What did you hand out to Trick or Treat-ers this Halloween?
We haven't had a SINGLE one so we're handing out nothing :-/.



Teddy

MwM

Midweek Munchies: What Funwithyourfood (Teddy) is contributing for the week Peanut Satay- Noodles in Sauce Nothing too exciting this week. But I did want to let you know Richard picked up this for one of his lunches. It says it's vegan but we'll see how it tastes. If it's great you'll definitely hear about it. Have you ever seen/heard about this Trader Joes Product?? Teddy Links to other Midweek Munchies (If you participate, leave your link in the comments and I'll post it below; or, you can post in the comments)

Click here for the Midweek Munchies code
Click here for Harmonia's blog

Trackbacks, pings, and comment links are accepted and encouraged!
Technorati Tag: Midweek Munchies

A special thanks to Running2Ks and Rift for all of their help with coding, graphics, and encouragement for this project.

PURPOSE of Midweek Munchies: Put together by a small group of Veg Women, we hope to spread the word about healthy vegetarianism while obtaining idea starters for meals, recipes, learn about new products, and meet other female veg*n bloggers. Visiting and commenting on other participants lists are encouraged but not required. Have fun and Go Veg!

Pumpkin Carving

Today I carved my pumkin for halloween.

Tomorrow- Pumkin SEEDS!
I've been addicted to these things lately. I'm in desperate need of a new batch. Right now, they are the worlds best vegan snack (give it a week and I'll move on to a new one haha)

What is your favorite, homemade vegan snack?

Teddy

Happy Halloween!

This week we had a halloween contest at work.
Here's my costume:




I'm 80's Madonna and I'm dead. It was a blast and a LOT of work. Not much cooking going on right now, just having fun :)


What are your plans for Halloween?


Teddy

New Bowl

While I was at the market/swap meet this weekend I picked up a new bowl.




How do you like it? It was only 2 dollars so I think it was a good deal.
Now for what's in the bowl. White jasmine rice, topped with silken tofu, green bell peppers, and onions in a oyster mushroom sauce.

It was my first time cooking with silken tofu. I've eaten it as mapo-tofu before. I enjoyed the change in texture.

What do you use silken tofu for?

Teddy

Lunch time

I thoroughly enjoy making lunches for Richard and me. To know that Richard's eating a good meal when he's not with me is nice.
Last night I stayed up a bit because I haven't made our lunches in a while. I decided to make a hardy, stick-to-your-bones meal. Chili over a baked potato topped with chives.



Richard came home, thanked me, and let me know he liked the meal because it really filled him up. :-)

What is your favorite thing for lunch?


Teddy

Market

Every weekend the local college here has a swap meet that includes a small market.
Richard and I went yesterday.
Below are some great pictures of the food.



Potatoes, tomatillos and tamarind.



Tomatoes, jalpenos, onions and catus



There were about 8 different types of dried chilis. The warm smell filled the tents and we both enjoyed it.




Finally, we bought a coconut to eat/drink. I'm used to young coconut and I found this one more salty yet still enjoyable/satisfying.

I think this may become a regular visit for us.

What is your favorite item from your local farmers market?


Teddy

Nightmare Before Christmas in 3-D!

Nothing food related to post as of yet.
However last night I trekked up to LA and saw The Nightmare Before Christmas in 3-D. It was pricey and worth it. In the basement of the El Capitan Theatre they have all of the original clay-mation figurines on display (including the famous hill in the picture above).
If you've got the money and live near LA, I recommend going to watch it (make a night out of it- dinner, a movie...).
It's only in theatres for a limited time and they definitely sell out!
Hope you all are having a wonderful weekend :)


Teddy

Kitties

I've been neglecting my kitty post. Just wanted you to see that Abbey and Patches are happy as cats in a patch of catnip :)





Patches LOVES water- well to drink it at least. You better stay away from her when she's drinking hehe :)



Abbey looking as regal as ever

Teddy

Salad

All week I've been craving salads.


Yesterday I had a spring greens salad with cucumber, green apples, sunflower seeds with a raspberry vinegarette.
Hit the spot I tell you.

Any favorite salads that you have?


Teddy

Cherimoya

(AKA Custard Apple)

For those of you who guessed cherimoya, you're right.



A little info from Wikipedia and Chermoya.com.

• The fruit is not available in all areas but is common in Southern California

• The fruit is fleshy and soft, sweet, white in color, with a custard-like texture, hence the nickname custard apple. Some say the flavor as a blend of pineapple, mango and strawberry.

• It's about that size of a grapefruit and it has large, glossy, dark seeds that are easily removed. (which are poisonous if crushed open) You should also avoid eating the skin.

• When ripe the skin is green and gives slightly to pressure, similar to an avocado.

• Ripe fruit may be kept in the refrigerator, but it is best to let immature cherimoyas ripen at room temperature.

• If in doubt, it should be allowed to ripen further. It's better for it to be a little over ripe than a little under ripe.

• Brown skin means that it is good to eat and has ripened.

• After ripening, cherimoya can be kept for several days in the refrigerator. It should not be put in the refrigerator before ripe.

Teddy

Food Quiz!

Does anyone know the name of this fruit?
:)

Teddy

Roasted goodness

Here's some of what I made yesterday:

Roasted Pumkin (so far I've made pumpkin butter but I still have more)



Pumpkin seeds



Acorn squash





Roasted Acorn Soup with caramelized onions and roasted garlic (mom gave me that bowl)


What is your favorite vegetable/fruit to roast? Any recipes we should be trying?

Teddy

Pumpkin Day

I've bought 3 pumpkins today (two small sweet ones and one large for carving.)

Fall has been here a while and today I'm turning on the oven and embracing it! :)

Pictures to come soon

Family Veg Night

This week was cheese ravioli with a sweet potato sauce and sauteed peppers/zucchini on top.




Once again, I love the colors of this dish. I'm not sure but I think that my parents got this recipe from Nava Atlas' site.
This weekend I'm buying a pumpkin, oven roasting the seeds and making pumpkin puree for pumpkin butter at the very least. I'm excited for it. I've never cooked a whole pumpkin before.

Well TGIF! See you this weekend :)

Teddy

PS Is anyone doing anything SCAREY for Friday the 13th?

Anniversary Gift

The flowers that Richard got for me. Aren't they HUGE?!



We went to a Thai restaurant called Royal Thai Cuisine. It was too dark to snap any pictures besides the one above (that was on the ceiling of the entrance). VERY good Thai food. Not too spicy but spicy enough to give it a kick.



Richard got me a pestle and mortar for our anniversary gift. I LOVE it and it's HUGE; however, I have never used one before.

Any suggestions on what to make with it?(well besides pesto)


Teddy

PS
The okra rainbow dish from two days ago gets a BIG thumbs up. My mom wants to give it a try too!

Anniversary

Today is Richard and I's FIRST anniversary :)
We're doing great

Rainbow Meal

Last week when I stopped by Little Saigon, they had okra on sale. 99 cents for a bunch.
I needed to use it ASAP before it went bad.

It's so colorful! Hence the 'rainbow' hehe

I just so happened to have some peppers that my mom had bought for me. Jambalaya sounded great but I didn't have all the ingredients. So, I made up my own .
It included Okra, Red and Yellow peppers, onion, kidney beans and cumin. FAR from Jambalaya but I don't know what to call it.




This will be lunch for tomorrow. By the looks I think we'll both enjoy it.

How do you like your orka? or Jambalaya?

Teddy

Soup Adventure

And so here it is!
I don't have the book next to me and I'm having trouble remembering the name of the recipe.
I wanted a hearty, filling recipe and I ended up trying a Fall season, potato-based soup. It may have been called creamy white fall vegetables. (eekk sorry for forgetting the name!)
It had potatoes, corn, peppers, onions, and CUMIN. Mmm, I adore that spice and don't use it enough.
I had a minor detour during cooking, seeing as I nearly chopped off the tip of my finger off while cutting the potatoes up. OUCH
But that's not the bad part. The BAD part was that in my state of panic, I ran to turn the stove off and inadvertently put it on full blast instead. I didn't notice till the house was covered in a grayish hue.
After recovering I sifted threw and trashed the burnt bits. I somehow managed to salvage it. Richard and I both agreed it was a great hearty soup and bagged up a bunch of extras to put in our freezer.
I really hadn't intended it to be THAT much of an adventure. :) It sure does make for good story telling though.
Hope you're all having a great weekend!

Do you have any adventurous cooking stories?

Teddy

Soup

Since Thursday I've been getting that scratchy feeling in my throat like I'm about to get sick and I have been combating it with everything I got!
I've has PLENTY of greens and citrus. I've even picked up some horrible tasting Airborne. The sickness has not quite gone away yet thus today I'm pulling out the BIG GUNS.

SOUP

I was fortunate enough to receive Nava Atlas' new book a couple of weeks ago (Thank you Nava!). As I customarily do, I've been reading it- not using it just yet. Today is the day that I will start to cook! Not sure which recipe I fancy but that'll be the surprise of the next post :)

Wish me luck on this cooking adventure!

Teddy

PS- I just want to point out that I don't just eat soup when I'm sick. I happen to crave it like a mad woman then though:)

Family Veg Night

Yes, things have settled down and we're getting back into the routine of Family Veg Night.
Mom found this simple recipe for a squash dish.

I snapped a picture while all the veggies were still firm and beautiful. After about 10 minutes all the flavors (and veggies) melted together.

The ingredients were few:
Yellow summer squash, cherry tomatoes, onions, garlic and some spices.

My verdict- The taste was savory and satisfying but you may want some bread because it's not very filling.


Teddy

Curry

I'll be the first to admit it- curry is a mysterious dish to me.
So many spices layered over one another. I know a good curry when I try one. I'm practically addicted to curry.




On a scale of 1 to 10, I'd give this curry a 7. It was sufficient but not exactly what I was hoping for.




It looks good though. The best part of the dish was the green mini eggplants. I love those thing. I used a canned curry from Little Saigon. It looks like making curry from scratch is what I need to do. There are just SO many ingredients- I was hoping to avoid all that.

Welp, the decision is made, I must make curry from scratch at least one time before I die. Wish me luck! :)

What's the ONE dish you could eat over and over?

Teddy

Kean coffee House

They do a neat leaf design with their mochas

Kean is a specialty coffee house in Newport Beach (right down the road from us).
While this is not a Vegan Mocha there are some GREAT reasons to try this place out.
They sell fair trade/organic/shade grown coffee.
That is what really sold me on this place (besides the casual atmosphere).
I'm sure you can get any of their drinks with soy milk as well. If you're ever in town and craving coffee, stop by Kean.

What is your favorite way to drink coffee?

Teddy

Garlicy Kale Potatoes

Recently I got Vegan with a Vengeance. (Mini celebration dance for me!) I really don't use cook books too much. I have this weird creativity thing when it comes to my cooking and I don't want to just cook from a book. But the inspiration from the cook books I've recently received is magnificent. I decided to read the entire book- page by page- before I even considered what I actually wanted to make.

I'm happy to say that this weekend I made some garlicy kale. Of course I had to make it my own by using roasted garlic and adding onion as well (I mixed it with some mashed potatoes as well)

There's some other stuff in the background that I made as well but the garlic potatoey kaley creation blew the other dishes away.


Do you use cook books? What is your favorite one?

Teddy

Chick'n Stuffed Bell pepper

I don't know what it is with me and my peppers but I like them raw. I could be because putting a pepper in the oven would take longer, yet it's more likely that I prefer the crisp texture of a raw pepper to the soggy baked one. Either way, stuffing bell peppers and leaving them raw is my favorite way to use this ingredient.




This time I used some TVP flavored with some un-chicken broth powder, bok-choy, onions and some roasted garlic.
I roasted garlic for the first time last week and I'm now making it a point to have a head of roasted garlic on hand in my kitchen. Roasted garlic is too simple to make and too wonderful. I'm thrilled I finally decided to give it a whirl.


What's your favorite thing to do with Bell Peppers?

Teddy